Zig-zag web folder



July 21, 1964 6 R. w. ASHTON 3,141,666

ZIG-ZAG WEB FOLDER Filed June 17. 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I I I "0" ,rwi i yj 2 32a: 7" 1 37 1 a I Q 6-119 )I //VVE/V7'0R F G. RAYMOND WASHTO/V BY- jw A TTORNEYS July 21, 1964 w. ASHTON 3,141,666

ZIG-ZAG WEB FOLDER Filed June 1'7, 1963 INVEN TOR 4 RAYMOND W. ASHTON \&

A TTORNEYS radially extending folder blade. paper to be folded is passed downwardly between these United States Patent 3,141,666 ZIG-ZAG WEB FOLDER Raymond W. Ashton, Ottawa, ()ntario, Canada, assignor to Ashton Press Mfg. (10., Ltd., Gttawa, Ontario,

Canada Filed dune 17, 1963, Ser. No. 288,190 6 Claims. (61. 27073) This invention relates to zig-zag paper folding apparatus.

I am well acquainted with prior machines for effecting zig-zag folding of paper. In these machines, two opposed driven drums are provided, each of which has a The travelling web of drums and the blade on one drum is displaced 180 from the blade on the other drum so that as the drtuns rotate in opposite directions the paper will be folded first in one direction and then in the other. If the machine had to produce only one fold length at all times, for example 8 /2 inches, the drums would be made 17 inches in circumference, and be driven at the same peripheral speed as the travelling web. However, a problem arises when it is desired .to alter the fold length, for example to 11 inches, asso very often happens. In such a case, the peripheral speed of the drums has to be decreased, with the result that as a fold is being made the paper web, which is still being fed at its original speed, builds up above the folderblade and has to be jerked downwardly after the blade has left the web. This, of course, is highly unsatisfactory.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus which can be adapted to various predetermined intervals of length without adjusting the peripheral speed of the drum or drums, so that they may always be driven atthe same speed as the material and thus avoid .the disadvantage inherent in prior machines and discussed above.

The invention achieves thisobject by providing a plurality of material-working members or folder blades in each drum, making them movable into and out of the drum and providing interchangeable chains for each drum with special control links to control the in and out movement.

Thus, if an 8 /2 inch interval is desired between the folds in a zig-zagpaper folding apparatus, the drums will be made with the blades spaced /z inch apart and each chain will actuate the 34th blade after the one previously actuated on its associated drum. It will be appreciated, of course, that the two chains will be staggered so that the blades of one drum will be actuated half-way between actuation of the blades of the other drum. Now, if an 11 inch length is desired, it is a simple matter to remove the chains and replace them with chains having control links which will actuate every 44th blade on each drum.

I prefer to use pressurized air asmy motive force for projecting the blades from the drums although other means could be utilised and thus, in my preferred embodiment, the control links open valves in air supply ducts to my folder blades.

The presently preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional side elevation of a zig-zag paper folding apparatus;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation, partly in section, corresponding to FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged detail of FIGURE 1, showing a fold being made.

As shown, the machine or apparatus comprises a frame 1 on which there are mounted paper feeding pin wheels 2, paper guides 3, folding drums 4 and idler sprockets 5 for chains 6 which are driven by drive sprocket 7 on the drums 4. The pin wheels 2 and guides 3 form nopart of the present invention and therefore need not be described further. The drums 4 are driven via gear train 8 at the same speed as pin wheels Z-and'hence at the same speed as the travelling paper web 9. Also mounted on frame 1 are air inlet members 10 which-abut the faces 11 of drums 4 in an airtight manner and which each have ducts 12, 13 communicating respectively with an opening 14 in the side wall 15 of frame 1 and an arcuate recess 16 in the inner face of each member 10. A compressed air nipple may be screwed into the threaded duct 12, the supply hose from a suitable source of compressed air passing through the opening 14.

The drums 4 are twenty four inches in circumference and have forty-eight folder blades 17 spaced half inch apart. With this arrangement any of the commonly used fold spacings which are multiples of one half inch may be achieved without altering the speed of the drums. Bearings 18 rotatably support the drums 4 in the frame 1. The blades 17 are seated in radial recesses 19 in the drums and have channel-shaped plastic members 20 secured to their radially inner faces, the springs 21 normal- .ly holding the 'bladesin retracted position withthe members 20 engagingthe bottom of the recesses 19 as shown in thelower half of FIGURE 2. It will be noted that the blades have a thicker inner part 22 and a thinner outer part 23, the outer limit of travel of the blades being determined by enagement of the inner part 22 with shoulders 24.

The outward travel of a blade is effected by compressed air introduced into the channel of its plastic member 20 from recess 16 of inlet member 10 via ducts 25, 26 and 27 when ball valve 28 in duct 26 is off its seat 29, i.e. open. The member 20 gives a good seal with the sides of recess 159 and acts as a piston to push the blade out. The ball valve is normally held in closed position by spring 30 but is opened when pusher member 31 is depressedby laterally extending rod or pin 32 of a special control link 33 of chain 6, as shown in the upper part of FIGURE 2. The control link opens the valve as soon as it engages the sprocket 7 and keeps it open as duct 25 ,passes inlet member 10 to allow the projection of the blade and the making of the fold. It also keeps the valve open after duct 25 has passed inlet member 10, so that thepressurized air in recess 19 may exhaust to atmosphere to allow spring 21 to retract the blade once more. It will be noted that the compressed air is introduced into the recess 19 in advance of the folding station, i.e. the point of closest proximity of the drums, so that the blade will be fully projected when it reaches the folding station. This is the reason for arcuate recess 16.

The chains 6 shown in full lines in FIGURE 1 are adapted for 8 /2 inch paper length between folds, i.e. they have sixty-eight links, two of which have control rods 32. One of the control rods on the chain shown at the righthand side of FIGURE 1 is positioned at the folding station and the other is trailing by 34 links, the equivalent of 17 inches. One of the control rods on the left-hand chain is 17 links away from the folding station, equivalent to 8 /2 inches, and the other, of course, is trailing by 34 links. It will thus be seen that the paper is being folded in zigzag fashion every 8 /2 inches, although the folding is being done by different blades.

As is clearly shown in FIGURE 3, a fold is made by a blade from one drum entering a recess in the other drum.

The diameter of sprocket 7 is smaller than the outside diameter of the drum 4 so that the teeth of the sprocket and the links of chain 6 will not project beyond the paper engaging face of the drum. However, the sprocket has a number of teeth equal to the number of folder blades and the chain is made to match the sprocket so that the difference in diameter is not relevant.

If it is desired to adapt the apparatus to an eleven inch fold spacing, the idler sprockets are loosened by unscrewing bolts 34 from locking nuts 35, removing chains 6 and replacing them with longer chains and sliding sprockets 5 down slots 36 in frame member 37 to tauten the longer chains. The longer chains will have 88 links with two control links spaced 44 links apart and the control links of one chain will be staggered 22 links away from the control links of the other chain. The adjustability of the sprocket 5 is illustrated by the dotted line showing in FIGURE 1.

It is believed that the construction and operation of my inventive apparatus will now be clear to those skilled in the art. The invention is not to be construed, of course, as limited to half inch spacing of the blades. For example, if a length between folds of 5 /3 inches is desired with the possibility of adjustment to 8 /3 inches also desired, I would construct a machine in which the blades would be peripherally spaced /3 of an inch apart since this can be multiplied by a whole number, namely eight, to give 5 /3 and by another whole number, namely thirteen, to give 8 /3. The sprocket teeth would, of course, be spaced accordingly and the chains made to match the sprockets. One set of chains could have 32 links with control links spaced 16 links apart to give the zig-zag 5 /3 inch folds and the other set of chains could have 52 links with the control links 26 links apart to give the 8 /3 inch folds.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. Apparatus for zig-zag folding of a travelling web of paper at any of a plurality of predetermined intervals of length, said apparatus comprising a frame, a pair of opposed drums mounted in said frame, means for driving said drums at the same peripheral speed as the travelling length of material, a circular series of folder blades radially mounted in each said drum for movement between an inoperative position recessed within said drum and an operative position projecting from said drum, said folder blades being equally spaced apart a peripheral distance which can be multiplied by whole numbers to give said predetermined intervals, and control means for controlling the movement of said folder blades between said positions, said control means including a driving sprocket mounted on each said drum for rotation therewith, a chain engaging each said sprocket, each said chain having a plurality of ordinary links and at least one control link adapted to effect projection of one of said folder blades as said control link travels around said driving sprocket for each chain, an idler sprocket mounted on said frame, and means permitting replacement of each said chain by a chain of different length, the chains being of appropriate length and the control links on the chains being appropriately positioned to correspond to said predetermined intervals, the control links of the two chains in use being staggered so that the drums fold the paper alternately, from opposite sides.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means permitting replacement of each chain comprises means adjustably mounting each said idler sprocket on the frame for movement towards and away from the associated driving sprocket.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein resilient means are provided, normally biasing said folder blades individually to said inoperative position.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, including ducts in each said drum for supply of pressurised air behind said folder blades to project the latter, a valve in each of said ducts, resilient means normally holding said valve closed, a valve opening member projecting radially at the side of each said chain, and a control rod extending laterally from each said control link to depress one of said valve opening members and hold the associated valve open as the control link passes around the associated driving sprocket.

5. Apparatus for folding a travelling Web of paper in Zig-zag fashion at any of a plurality of predetermined intervals of length, said apparatus comprising a pair of opposed drums, means for driving said drums at the same peripheral speed as the travelling web, a circular series of folder blades radially mounted in each of said drums, said blades being equally spaced apart a peripheral distance which can be multiplied by Whole numbers to give said predetermined intervals of length, resilient means normally biassing each of said folder blades individually to a recessed position in its drum, pneumatically-operated means individually associated with said blades, each said pneumatically-operated means being adapted, when subjected to pressurised air, to move its associated blade from said recessed position to a projected position, duct means individually connecting said pneumatically-operated means with the exteriors of said drums, a valve in each of said duct means, valve biassing means normally holding each of said valves in closed position, valve opening members extending radially outwards from each of said valves, a drive sprocket rigidly mounted on each of said drums adjacent said valve opening members, a chain passing round said drive sprocket, at least one valve-actuating rod extending laterally from at least one preselected link of said chain to depress at least one of said valve opening members and open the associated valve as the rod passes around the drive sprocket, said rods being spaced apart on each chain a distance corresponding to two of said predetermined intervals and the chains being staggered so that the web is folded alternately from opposite sides at said intervals, an idler sprocket for each said chain, means permitting replacement of each said chain by one of a different length, and pressurised air inlet means embracing the exterior of said drums at and in advance of their point of closest proximity for admitting pressurised air to said duct means.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said blades are peripherally spaced apart one half inch.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,784,784 Haurnann Mar. 12, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 627,367 Great Britain Aug. 8, 1949 

1. APPARATUS FOR ZIG-ZAG FOLDING OF A TRAVELLING WEB OF PAPER AT ANY OF A PLURALITY OF PREDETERMINED INTERVALS OF LENGTH, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A FRAME, A PAIR OF OPPOSED DRUMS MOUNTED IN SAID FRAME, MEANS FOR DRIVING SAID DRUMS AT THE SAME PERIPHERAL SPEED AS THE TRAVELLING LENGTH OF MATERIAL, A CIRCULAR SERIES OF FOLDER BLADES RADIALLY MOUNTED IN EACH SAID DRUM FOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN AN INOPERATIVE POSITION RECESSED WITHIN SAID DRUM AND AN OPERATIVE POSITON PROJECTING FROM SAID DRUM, SAID FOLDER BLADES BEING EQUALLY SPACED APART A PERIPHERAL DISTANCE WHICH CAN BE MULTIPLIED BY WHOLE NUMBERS TO GIVE SAID PREDETERMINED INTERVALS, AND CONTROL MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE MOVEMENT OF SAID FOLDER BLADES BETWEEN SAID POSITIONS, SAID CONTROL MEANS INCLUDING A DRIVING SPROCKET MOUNTED ON EACH SAID DRUM FOR ROTATION THEREWITH, A CHAIN ENGAGING EACH SAID SPROCKET, EACH SAID CHAIN HAVING A PLURALITY OF ORDINARY LINKS AND AT LEAST ONE CONTROL LINK ADAPTED TO EFFECT PROJECTION OF ONE OF SAID FOLDER BLADES AS SAID CONTROL LINK TRAVELS AROUND SAID DRIVING SPROCKET FOR EACH CHAIN, AN IDLER SPROCKET MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME, AND MEANS PERMITTING REPLACEMENT OF EACH SAID CHAIN BY A CHAIN OF DIFFERENT LENGTH, THE CHAINS BEING OF APPROPRIATELY LENGTH AND THE CONTROL LINKS ON THE CHAINS BEING APPROPRIATELY POSITIONED TO CORRESPOND TO SAID PREDETERMINED INTERVALS, THE CONTROL LINKS OF THE TWO CHAINS IN USE BEING STAGGERED SO THAT THE DRUMS FOLD THE PAPER ALTERNATELY, FROM OPPOSITE SIDES. 